The Vega Influence
| Special = | Introducing = | and = | Appearance = | Also = | Co = | With = | Uncredited = | Uncertain = | Producer = Kenneth Johnson | Writer = Arthur Rowe | Teleplay = | Story = | Director = Mel Damski | Production = 45412 | Original = 1 December 1976 | Prev = Sister Jaime | Next = Jaime's Shield | Related = }} At a government base on an isolated island, Jaime is pitted against a "living" meteorite which has a strange ability to overpower the human will. Summary Deconstructed Quotes Jaime: What is on Grand Tooley? Major Andrews: It used to be an air corp base during World War II. You have heard of that war, I presume? Jaime: (sarcastically) I read about it in my history books. Major Andrews: Oh, you're cute, Jaime. ---- Jaime: Ehm, we got a safe to land? Sergeant Roberts: Well, the way I see it, we got no choice. We either land right now, or 300 miles further out, in the ocean. ---- Jaime: Y'know, times like this, it's kinda nice being a girl, 'cause I can admit to being scared. Sergeant Roberts: Well, I'll match goosebumps with you about now. ---- Major Andrews: You two take this hangar. I'll take the next one. Now sing out if you see anybody. Jaime: (salutes) Loud and clear, sir. Probably will be more like a piercing scream, though. ---- Michael: One thing scientist have in common is we keep notes. (a little while later) Well, we usually keep notes. ---- Oscar: How did it work? Dr. Boylin: Well, very simply, it seemed to be a basic life form which infected by ultrasonic communication. Michael: Which correspond to the alpha waves of the human mind. Its signals blocked all our thoughts except the basic instinct to help it survive. Jaime: That is fascinating. Oscar: Fascinating? After all you've been through, fascinating? That's all? Jaime: Well, okay, Oscar, I'll admit, it is the most bizarre experience I have ever had in my life, but I must admit that the thought of a completely new life form. I mean, I love it! Where would it come from? Dr. Boylin: Something to think about, isn't it? Does it come from our own solar system? From beyond? Michael: Well, wherever it came from, I'll tell you one thing: I never want to see another snowsuit. Trivia Characters * Michael Marchetti makes his final appearance in a Bionic Woman episode. Original Airing * This episode first aired in Canada between the two parts of "Doomsday Is Tomorrow", due to the CTV network not receiving a copy of Doomsday Part 2 in time for broadcast. Visual Effects * The organism shown used scenes from the film The Andromeda Strain to show it's growth pattern. Gaffes Continuity * When Jaime finds the video tape, it's sitting on the counter. Michael suggest that they watch it and proceeds to rewind it - only neither of them had actually put it back into the player yet. * The steering wheel and column of the firetruck are green, but then brown in the closeup of the key. * Jaime acts unusually fearful and "whiny" for much of the episode, in contradiction to her portrayal in other recent episodes. She also seems to forget she's physically the most powerful being on the base. Credibility * The 146th Tactical Airlift Wing, where Jaime and the flight crew land near the beginning of the episode, was actually located in California during this time period, not Alaska. * The episode is set in Alaska and the station personnel -- as well as Major Andrews and his crew -- are all seen wearing location-appropriate parkas and other winter gear, yet Jaime wears a very light outfit and not even a coat, even at night when temperatures would have been expected to drop significantly. Even Laurie, at least, is wearing a sweater. (Although there is a plot-related reason given for the characters bundling up, Andrews and his crew are still wearing winter gear before even before they're taken over.) * The episode is located on an otherwise uninhabited island, but it must have been filmed near the Universal studios. During the scene where Jaime is surrounded at the hangar, cars can be seen driving in the distance (at approx. 27:40). Storyline * When Michael and Jaime are in the Agricultural building, Jaime finds a videotape lying on the counter (though strangely she doesn't immediately recognize it as such). When they watch the tape, at the end the camera droops as if the cameraman has succumbed like the rest of the scientists. How did the tape get from the camera to the counter? * When Jaime Sommers first encounters Laurie Boylin in the hangar, the zombified people that Jaime locked out start to bang on the door. Jaime jumps, and so does Boylin - only Boylin shouldn't have jumped. As we learn later in the episode, she is deaf and shouldn't have heard the banging. (However, she may have been reacting to Jaime, or to the percussion of the banging.) ** Jaime also makes a tactical error in knocking out a wall in the hangar that allows herself and Laurie to leave - but within sight of the zombies. Wouldn't it have made more sense to exit through the opposite side of the huge hangar (where there might even have been a door) from the zombies? * Wouldn't the earphones on the zombified pilot and co-pilot have the same effect as when Jaime puts on the earphones: cancelling the noise from the meteor. And why do they need the earphones on when they don't need to talk to the control tower, anyway? Gallery 209